Eternity
by Chelle21
Summary: After Edward leaves Bella, telling her he doesn't want her any longer, he must face eternity without his soul mate. Set during New Moon.


_**This story is set after chapter 3 in New Moon. It begins from the point where Edward leaves Bella in the forest after telling her he doesn't want her anymore. It will take into consideration canon from all books including Breaking Dawn.  
I will not be writing this in first person as Stephanie Meyer does. I am not accustomed to that style so it will be written in third person with Edward as the main character, but influences of Alice along the way.  
This is not my first fanfiction, those of you who have read my Harry Potter stories, thanks for sticking with me, those of you who are just finding me because you love the Twilight series as I do; welcome and thanks for reading. I love reviews!!**_

_**Eternity  
Prologue**_

"Damn it, Bella," Edward whispered to himself as he gripped the tree, leaning his forehead against it. If he could cry, tears would have raced down his cheeks. As it was he was barely able to contain the ache that ripped through his chest. Nothing compared to it, not even those three days in 1918 when his body had been afire with the pain of transformation. To imagine there was no limit to this pain; to know he'd still feel it in a hundred years, in a thousand years, caused his hands to move. The tree in his grip quickly uprooted before he heaved it away in agony.

His feet flew underneath him, trying to leave this tortured moment behind him. When he appeared back in front of the Swan residence Alice was leaning against his Volvo.

"I still don't think this is a good idea, Edward," she told him. "She's going to be catatonic in minutes and inconsolable for months. You have no idea the pain you've just inflicted upon her."

"She's human," he responded more to reassure himself than his sister. "Her heart will heal; she'll find someone else to love."

"No, she won't," she told him as her recent vision flooded through him.

Edward clinched his fist as his eyes fell closed and the images of Alice's vision assaulted him. Bella not living, barely existing, not talking to a soul, rarely feeding herself and drowning in absolute misery.

"Her heart will heal," he said again defiantly. "It will be like she never knew me," he said again. His mind was made up. He knew he was doing right by his love. His selfishness had let this go on for far too long. Bella was human and he a vampire. There was no room in his world for her and none in hers for him. The charade needed to be over before she paid the ultimate price for it.

"You should not have sucked the venom back out of her hand," Alice said in a voice so quiet but she knew; she didn't even have to say it aloud for Edward to hear. "I told you she was meant to be one of us, and guess what, Edward? My vision on this has not changed, only delayed. She will become one of us and now it will be you that changes her."

"Never," he hissed.

Alice didn't bother speaking again. What good would it do? Edward could read minds but she could read the future and Bella had incontrovertibly been put on the path to becoming a vampire since the day Edward opened his mouth and greeted her warmly. The way had only changed since the spring. Alice saw it all now; Edward and Bella dancing at their wedding, something hidden and dangerous but wonderful and then Bella's transformation.

"Stop it!" he roared at her. "Just get away from me!"

Alice turned her back on him. She'd shown him the truth but he was still refusing. She had no use for him and his stupid ways of over thinking everything. She wanted to get back to Jasper. He'd just arrived in Denali and he needed her. He'd been so upset about trying to attack Bella that he'd nearly come unglued. But Bella held no ill will against him, Alice knew it and soon Jasper would accept it as well.

She stole one last glance at her brother, who was entering the Swan house, before running.

Edward was glad to see her go. He wanted no company now especially not Alice, who was constantly bombarding him with images of a happy future with Bella. He wouldn't sacrifice her life, her soul, for his selfish desires.

Edward stalked up the stairs, his quiet fluid moments long forgotten as he was consumed by nothing but his pain. By the time he reached the top of the stairs his composure had been regained because the subtle groan of the floor below him. It would do no good to destroy Chief Swan's home in his anger. He slowly entered Bella's room his eyes fell immediately on the bed. They'd spent so many nights in that bed together. Never making love physically but always in love in each other's arms. Those nights were passed.

He reached for her CD player and carefully removed the CD he'd given her just a few short days ago. Next he went to the scrapbook and removed every picture of him. His eyes lingered on the one of the two of them. It was so obvious how unhappy he was and how anxious she was. She didn't need to read minds to know something was very wrong. But no matter how uncomfortable they both looked Edward could not let this go. He folded the picture into his breast pocket then fell to his knees. Carefully, he lifted the floorboard and tucked the items away. He didn't have the heart to remove her possessions from her but he didn't want her lingering over them, or him, for more time than necessary. As much as it pained him, he wanted her to recover; as much as the thought invoked wild jealousy within him, he wanted someone new to sweep her off of her feet and love her the way he could not.

He couldn't stay there any longer. He couldn't stand in that room. It was her home, her bedroom but the room truly belonged to them. For the past six months this is where they'd spent the bulk of their life together. It was too painful for him now. He bolted from the room, down the stairs and just as he gripped the front door knob Alice's words resonated with him.

_She's going to be catatonic in minutes_.

"Damn it, Bella," he swore again.

She wasn't coming home until someone made her come home. He could not chance seeing her again out of fear that his resolve would not hold so he did what he could. He wrote a note for Charlie in Bella's sloppy scrawl then dashed from the house. He'd always been a fast driver but even he was astonished at the length of time it took before Forks was no longer visible in any of his mirrors.

That was what Forks needed to be, a distant memory.


End file.
